Syngenta & Quad County Corn Processors planning XyloFerm® trials
Cellerate™ is a process that allows for production of cellulosic ethanol from corn kernel fiber, marketed in a collaboration between Syngenta, with US Seed headquarters in Minnesota, and Quad County Corn Processors (QCCP), Galva Iowa. It is a “bolt-on” system designed to be added to existing plants and the process has been shown to boost ethanol production by 26 % when used in combination with Syngenta’s Enogen® corn. Production gains may be boosted even further by the addition of a co-fermenting (C5/C6) yeast to the process, and Syngenta/QCCP are now together with Taurus Energy and Lallemand Biofuels & Distilled Spirits planning trials using XyloFerm® for this purpose. The trials are dependent on regulatory approval for use in animal feed being obtained for XyloFerm® and will start after such approval is granted (January 2017 at the earliest as per previous information).
Read more about Cellerate™:
http://grainmarketnews.com/13345/syngenta-ready-to-expand-cellerate-process-technology.html
Comparative feed study with Quad County Corn Processors
The comparative study of Distillers Grains (DG) produced using XyloFerm® and unmodified yeast, respectively, for use in animal feed is underway and Taurus can now inform that Quad County Corn Processors (QCCP), Galva, Iowa, is the industrial ethanol producer performing the study. With QCCP performing the study and Lallemand Biofuels & Distilled Spirits supplying the yeast strains (XyloFerm® and unmodified strain), we are meeting the criteria for industrial relevance when/if the results are reviewed by AAFCO/FDA.
Taurus Energy and Lallemand Biofuels & Distilled Spirits
The collaboration with Lallemand BDS har worked well and will continue. Lallemand BDS has been of great help in terms of technical ability and marketing of XyloFerm®. Most recently, at the Fuel Ethanol Workshop in Milwaukee, XyloFerm® got good exposure in the Lallemand BDS booth on the expo floor. Lallemand BDS also provide shirts to promote Taurus Energy as a partner.
(Read Lallemand BDS’s report from the Fuel Ethanol Workshop 2016 here:
http://www.lallemandbds.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/FEW-review-2016-internal-portal_final.pdf)
Brazil
Work with the Brazilian technology center has resumed and trials are being performed at both locations (Sweden and Brazil). The trials are part of the technology center’s efforts to create a model for the production of second generation ethanol, and is hence a long term project. As previously mentioned, Taurus is viewing the collaboration as a good showcase for XyloFerm® on the Brazilian market.
Sweetwater
We are still bound by confidentiality regarding Sweetwater. The process is under development which has made it difficult to determine whether Taurus’ yeast strain and Lallemand BDS’s delivery model is right for Sweetwater. We’ll return with more info when we can.
China/India
Taurus has chosen to down-prioritize further evaluations with the Chinese counterpart. This partly due to some insecurity regarding the handling of intellectual property on the Chinese market, but also due to the need to focus on projects closer to market.
The Indian company Taurus has been working with has informed that their evaluation process has not shown performance above their internal reference, but that continued collaboration is welcomed. Taurus intends to continue the technical discussion and return with an improved strain in the future.
2G BIOPIC
Taurus has currently fulfilled its duties in the EU project 2G BIOPIC and is awaiting further instructions from project coordinator CIMV, France.
Internal projects
The internal projects that started this spring are aimed at improving the core technology of Taurus. We have several strong xylose-fermenting strains but the technical progress in the field does not stop and we need to keep improving our technology to stay competitive. This work has to be balanced with customer collaborations in order not to spread the company’s resources too much.
Read or download this message as pdf here.